By Verbal Diorama
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The podcast currently has 277 episodes available.
Bill & Ted creators Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson, along with stars Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, always assumed Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey would be the last time anyone would see Bill S. Preston Esquire and Ted Theodore Logan together on the big screen ever again.
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey hadn't done the business of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, and so all four men went their own ways in Hollywood, each carving their own successful careers.
It wasn't until a random red carpet comment in 2005 that any of them thought seriously about reviving the characters, and not until 2008 that they got together at a BBQ to discuss ideas. And they ended up having a great idea, one they all wanted to do, but it meant writing a spec script, without having any of the rights in place to get this legacy sequel actually made.
And then they found out MGM was planning their own reboot called Bill & Ted's Friggin' Badass Voyage...
I would love to hear your thoughts on Bill & Ted Face the Music !
Verbal Diorama is now an award-winning podcast! I won the Best Movie Podcast in the inaugural Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards recently. I am beyond thrilled, and hugely grateful to the Ear Worthy team. It means so much to me to be recognised by a fellow indie outlet, and congratulations to all the other winners!
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Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review
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ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA
Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.
Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio
Patrons: Sade, Claudia, Simon, Laurel, Derek, Cat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Dave, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip M, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Philip K, Adam, Elaine and Kyle
Verbal Diorama: It’s hip, it’s now, it’s wow and how?!
After the huge success of both Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, Sam Raimi wanted to finish his Spider-Man trilogy with a bang.
Originally planning to have Sandman and the Vulture, along with a non-New Goblin Harry Osborn against Peter Parker's newly adored Spider-Man, plans would evolve somewhat as time passed, with Avi Arad instead wanting fan favourite anti-hero Venom to be a secondary antagonist alongside Sandman.
Sam Raimi wasn't keen on Venom, he didn't fit Raimi's themes of humanity, and to show flaws in his hero. He also wanted a key theme of forgiveness. The alien symbiote represented none of this, but he eventually reluctantly agreed to reshape the movie to take out Vulture and include Venom.
Then producer Laura Ziskin suggested he add Gwen Stacy to an incredible busy mix too.
You can understand the logic - both Venom and Gwen are fan favourite characters, but in an-already busy movie, it just got busier and more bloated.
But Spider-Man 3 does have great things underneath the bloated exterior - the birth of Sandman still looks great, Mary Jane is given more to do than just scream, and we got the ultimate meme - Emo Peter and the Bully Maguire.
People Get Up and Drive Your Funky Soul!
I would love to hear your thoughts on Spider-Man 3 (2007) !
Verbal Diorama is now an award-winning podcast! I won the Best Movie Podcast in the inaugural Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards recently. I am beyond thrilled, and hugely grateful to the Ear Worthy team. It means so much to me to be recognised by a fellow indie outlet, and congratulations to all the other winners!
CONTACT....
SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....
Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review
Join the Patreon | Send a Tip
ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA
Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.
Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio
Patrons: Sade, Claudia, Simon, Laurel, Derek, Cat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Dave, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip M, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Philip K, Adam, Elaine and BRAND-NEW PATRON KYLE!
Batman Forever, for all its neon grandiose spectacle, was purely created as the anthesis to Batman Returns. While retrospectively, Batman Returns is seen as one of the best Batman movies, the backlash around the movie's dark, violent and sexual nature led to parents revolting, and Warner Bros scrambling to make Batman family-friendly again.
Enter Joel Schumacher, a guy with a strong movie making record, who was more than happy to follow Warner Bros family-friendly mantra, with his own accoutrements.
So, we got colour! We got manic humour! We got a new Batman, two new foes, a new sidekick, a new love interest, Bat Nipples™, and a really earnest attempt at the duality of Batman; about the two sides of your persona; your public and private sides, your billionaire and vigilante sides, your serious Batman movie and your goofy jokes. This is a movie that talks fairly seriously about Bruce Wayne’s psyche, but then can also say “holy rusted metal, Batman”
Because... the ground, it's all metal. It's full of holes.
But there was darkness to Schumacher's vision, and fifty minutes of material was removed from the final cut for being "too dark", including Bruce coming face to face with a huge animatronic bat, and in turn coming face to face with his destiny.
I would love to hear your thoughts on Batman Forever !
Verbal Diorama is now an award-winning podcast! I won the Best Movie Podcast in the inaugural Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards recently. I am beyond thrilled, and hugely grateful to the Ear Worthy team. It means so much to me to be recognised by a fellow indie outlet, and congratulations to all the other winners!
CONTACT....
SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....
Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review
Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch
ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA
Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.
Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio
Patrons: Sade, Claudia, Simon, Laurel, Derek, Cat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Dave, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip M, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Philip K, Adam and Elaine
After Steven Spielberg took the reins for both Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic World, it was time for some fresh meat for Jurassic Park III, which was the first to not be directed by Spielberg and not be based on a Michael Crichton novel.
Jurassic Park III would start to have problems early, though. The original script was thrown out five weeks before filming was due to start, with the project already having spent $18 million. New writers Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor were quickly hired to improve the story and characters , but they never actually completed a script.
Filming would start without a complete script, which would lead to a myriad of problems. It meant entire days shooting only one or two scenes, and quickly the production was behind schedule.
While Jurassic Park III is mostly known for "Alan", being the shortest movie in the franchise at a lean 92 minutes, and the lowest grossing movie of the franchise, it was also quietly revolutionary with its visual effects - the practical led by the legendary Stan Winston Studio and the CG by Industrial Light and Magic.
And who knew it would predict an actual scientific discovery on dinosaur behaviour?
I would love to hear your thoughts on Jurassic Park III !
Verbal Diorama is now an award-winning podcast! I won the Best Movie Podcast in the inaugural Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards recently. I am beyond thrilled, and hugely grateful to the Ear Worthy team. It means so much to me to be recognised by a fellow indie outlet, and congratulations to all the other winners!
CONTACT....
SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....
Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review
Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch
ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA
Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.
Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio
Patrons: Simon E, Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip M, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Russell, Philip K Adam and BRAND-NEW PATRON ELAINE!
Bong Joon-ho’s dedication to making Snowpiercer, and making it his way, is as always a true testament to his greatness as a director, and a visionary director at that. You don’t start something in 2005 and take seven years to develop it if you don’t have that passion for the project.
In many ways the scale and scope of Snowpiercer led Bong to want to make smaller films - his next film would be Okja for Netflix, and then he’d make Parasite - undoubtedly his most important, acclaimed and successful film, and the gateway for many in the west to truly accept Korean and international cinema after it swept the boards at the Oscars.
But Snowpiercer remains one of his most special, and most overlooked entries, despite the star-studded cast, terrific action set pieces and thoughtful social commentary. This would be Bong's first English language movie, and the irony is that in a movie where the entire train is controlled by a wealthy white power-mad elitist, a wealthy white power-mad elitist would end up controlling its release...
It's also the annual birthday episode; I've got a lovely black jelly birthday cake here, I wonder what it's made out of....
I would love to hear your thoughts on Snowpiercer (설국열차) (2013) !
Verbal Diorama is now an award-winning podcast! I won the Best Movie Podcast in the inaugural Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards recently. I am beyond thrilled, and hugely grateful to the Ear Worthy team. It means so much to me to be recognised by a fellow indie outlet, and congratulations to all the other winners!
CONTACT....
SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....
Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review
Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch
ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA
Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.
Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio
Patrons: Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip M, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Russell, Philip K and Adam!
Hollywood cinema has often featured Native American men in Westerns as brutal, hypermasculine barbarian warriors, and Native American women as hyper-sexualised or a quiet subservient. They'd also often be portrayed by white actors in brownface.
How remarkable that a Predator prequel aimed to set this injustice right?
Despite not being of Native American descent, director Dan Trachtenberg and writer Patrick Aison knew that they needed to make this movie as authentic as possible to the 1700s in the Great Plains, and not only did they get the advice of the Native communities, they involved them in every aspect of making Prey, and this started with producer Jhane Myers - the VIP of this movie.
Myers was instrumental on the authenticity and representation of the Comanche in Prey, as well as ensuring that a variety of roles, both in front and behind the camera, were First Nations people, with Native interns in the crew at all levels, as well as first time Native actors, led by an impeccable lead performance by Amber Midthunder.
But the greatest contributions came from community and tribal elders, who advised not only on language and specific tribal culture, including weapons, customs, face painting and regalia. Comanche is classified as a severely endangered world language, which makes it even more incredible that we got a Comanche dub of this movie. It’s more important than ever to preserve this language.
Prey is as authentic to Comanche tradition as it can be, and it's the best Predator movie by far. Yeah, I said what I said.
I would love to hear your thoughts on Prey (2022) !
Verbal Diorama is now an award-winning podcast! I won the Best Movie Podcast in the inaugural Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards recently. I am beyond thrilled, and hugely grateful to the Ear Worthy team. It means so much to me to be recognised by a fellow indie outlet, and congratulations to all the other winners!
CONTACT....
SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....
Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review
Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch
ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA
Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.
Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio
Patrons: Simon E, Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip M, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Russell, Philip K and BRAND-NEW PATRON ADAM!
From the depths of the Mexican jungle, an elite team of special forces are sent in to rescue hostages, but unbeknownst to them, they're the ones who are being hunted.
Predator, originally known as Hunter, was a spec script by brothers Jim and John Thomas that was slid under the door at 20th Century Fox, and ended up being sold without an agent or a lawyer. While its premise changed slightly from that initial iteration, it did under the weight of its star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who would be a huge muscular manly macho man, but also an every man.
Casting of Vietnam veterans aside, this is a movie steeped in Vietnam imagery, the traumas of conflict, and a commentary on masculinity.
But mostly it's just an excuse for some really buff guys to show off their incredibly big and powerful guns (not at all a penis metaphor), but one buff guy was let go in the middle of filming, and there are at least seven reasons why Jean-Claude Van Damme is not in this movie...
If it bleeds, we can kill it.
Full credit to Predator: The Musical by legolambs on YouTube
I would love to hear your thoughts on Predator (1987) !
Verbal Diorama is now an award-winning podcast! I won the Best Movie Podcast in the inaugural Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards recently. I am beyond thrilled, and hugely grateful to the Ear Worthy team. It means so much to me to be recognised by a fellow indie outlet, and congratulations to all the other winners!
CONTACT....
SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....
Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review
Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch
ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA
Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.
Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio
Patrons: Simon E, Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip M, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Russell and Philip K!
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is beloved by fans of the franchise, and lauded as the best Star Trek movie, with Khan himself as one of the standout villains, and Spock's sacrifice and resulting death as an emotional high point.
That wasn't always the case though. In fact, Spock's death was leaked to fans during production, and fans were not happy, even resorting to sending death threats to producer Robert Sallin.
Sallin, though, is one of the MVPs of this whole production. He would never work on Star Trek (or really in Hollywood) again after this movie, but his influence, ideas and steady hand would lead The Wrath of Khan to becoming a fan favourite. He was a man who put decency and integrity above his own selfish gains.
Gene Roddenberry was not happy about losing the creative control he had on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but Paramount blamed him for a lot of the issues that movie had, and for the sequel, it would be a controlled affair, especially when it came to the budget...
Please listen to Episode 259 for the history and legacy of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, because that story is integral to the setting up of this one...
I would love to hear your thoughts on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan !
Verbal Diorama is now an award-winning podcast! I won the Best Movie Podcast in the inaugural Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards recently. I am beyond thrilled, and hugely grateful to the Ear Worthy team. It means so much to me to be recognised by a fellow indie outlet, and congratulations to all the other winners!
CONTACT....
SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....
Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review
Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch
ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA
Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.
Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio
Patrons: Simon E, Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip M, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Russell and BRAND-NEW PATRON Philip K!
I don't usually re-release old episodes, however with Deadpool & Wolverine out now, I thought it might be nice to go back and revisit the groundbreaking first solo outing for everyone's favourite R-rated sex-positive, kink-positive and queer-positive, blood-splattering foul-mouthed merc with a mouth.
What started as a project languishing in development hell, turned into a neutered cameo in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and became a passion project for Ryan Reynolds, with leaked test footage the catalyst for Wade Wilson's actual cinematic debut.
Episode originally released on 8th July 2021.
Mentioned in this episode:
From the Archive
There's no new episode this week, so I thought you might be interested in revisiting this slightly older, but no less brilliant episode. Just bear in mind, this episode is several years old, it may not sound quite as polished as newer episodes, and new information may have come to light in recent years with regards to the making of this movie (please see above for the original date of release)
I don't usually re-release old episodes, however with Deadpool & Wolverine out now, I thought it might be nice to go back and revisit one of Fox's greatest achievements, and Hugh Jackman's (original) swansong as Logan. A brutal, gory, painful look at the life of an ageing hero, a man whose life consists of numbing his pain with booze whilst caring for Charles Xavier, a frail, elderly, dementia suffering shadow of his former self.
When Logan happens upon a young girl who's remarkably like him, she brings Charles joy, and gives Logan a reason to live, and a reason to carry on fighting.
20th Century Fox could have made a standard CGI-filled world-ending standard superhero movie. The fact they chose to make Logan; something so personal, so character-driven and so emotionally-weighted with real world stakes was such a massive risk. It paid off. Critically, commercially and, most importantly, for characters we've known and loved since 2000.
Episode originally released on 6th October 2019.
Mentioned in this episode:
From the Archive
There's no new episode this week, so I thought you might be interested in revisiting this slightly older, but no less brilliant episode. Just bear in mind, this episode is several years old, it may not sound quite as polished as newer episodes, and new information may have come to light in recent years with regards to the making of this movie (please see above for the original date of release)
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